Diablo Arenoso
by AyJay
Summary: Oneshot. Dean & Sam travel south to investigate murders in a small New Mexico town. Note: sam is a widow and John Winchester is dead.


It was Dean's turn to sleep. Sam looked over at his brother as he drove towards their next job, he was slumped in the passenger seat, head lolling against the closed window, sunglasses slightly askew, mouth open and arms crossed over his chest. Sam shook his head; Dean could sleep anywhere. And judging by the smile on Dean's face, he was having better dreams than Sam had been having these last few weeks. _'Lucky bastard'_ he thought, and turned his attention back to the road.

They were still a few hours out of _Magdalena, New Mexico_ so he would let Dean sleep for as long as possible. Besides, he needed some time to try and sort out why Sarah kept coming back to him. The obvious being to avenge her death but he knew there had to be more to it than that. The powers that be _never_ did anything simply, so he guessed that it was going to be a slow discovery. He sighed and turned his attention to the job at hand….

_Magdalena, New Mexico_…over the last few months there had been a spate of gruesome deaths surrounding the small town. Each murder more horrific than the last. The first had been a young girl, 8 years old. Maria Vazquez had been taken from her bedroom while sleeping, no-one had heard a thing. She was found five days later, deep in the desert, her throat slit and the wound filled with sand. The next victim, Jose Ferrer, had never made it home from his job as a bartender. He was found four days later, not far from where Maria had been found. His throat had been slit, he had also been disembowelled. Again, the wounds filled with sand. By the time the last victim, Benny Suarez had been found, there was hardly anything left. He had been literally torn apart. What little that had been found, a foot and part of his skull, had been filled with sand. There were nine victims in all. Male and female. Adults and children. All from different families, the only link seeming to be the sand in the wounds. The authorities believed it was due to recent sandstorms, he and Dean thought different.

The Impala roared towards New Mexico, the black highway laid out in an endless line in front of them, the bitumen shimmering on the horizon as the sun beat down on them. Dean started to wake, he yawned, scratched at his crotch and ran a hand through his hair. He sat up and looked over at Sam "How far now?" Sam looked over at Dean and laughed. Dean had been asleep so long that half his face was sunburned, he couldn't answer his brother he was laughing so hard. Dean grabbed the rearview and turned it towards him "You gotta be shitting me!" he turned to Sam "Pull over, NOW!" . Sam thought it best he did just that and he eased the Impala to the side of the road. Dean got out in a huff. Walking past a still laughing Sam, he got into the drivers seat and slammed the door. As Sam started to settle himself in the passenger seat, Dean shot the car forward a bit, Sam stumbled and fell on his ass which only made him laugh all the more. He crawled to the car, laughing hysterically and pulled himself inside, slamming the door as he wiped tears from his eyes. Dean pushed his foot down hard on the accelerator as the Impala fishtailed onto the highway, the tyres finally gripping. Dean turned to Sam, a wicked smile on his face "Oh, it's on, little brother….it's on…."

They arrived at _Magdalena _as the sun was starting to set, the sky a mixture of oranges and pinks reflecting the colours of the brightly painted adobes. Banners of small mutli-coloured flags were strung across the main street and fairy lights were starting to come alive in the few trees that lined it. It should have been buzzing with people but there was no-one on the streets. Dean drove slowly down the main street as he and Sam looked at the closed store fronts. "Seems the natives are a little restless" said Dean. He pulled up in front of the local _taverna_ and looked into the rearview, his sunburn was a little better and he'd evened out his face some but it was still damn obvious, he'd have to rely more on his charm tonight.

Sam laughed "Come on, Romeo…the ladies await". Dean gave Sam the finger as he got out of the car, slammed the door and followed his brother into the only place that was open.

The taverna was dimly lit and smelled of stale beer, stale smoke and stale vomit. A smokey haze hung in the air surrounding the almost empty bar "Lovely" said Sam. Dean walked past Sam and headed to the bar, ordering two beers and two shots of tequila. The bartender eyed them suspiciously, unable to tear his gaze from the strangely burnt man. He shook his head… '_Gringo's'…_ he thought to himself. They leaned against the bar and Sam picked up the shot-glass and looked at Dean "Tequila?". Dean smiled, raised his shot-glass "When in Rome….", he picked up the shot glass, yelled 'ONE TEQUILA!" threw back the firewater before slamming the glass back on the bar. Sam jumped. "What the _hell _was that?" Dean grinned at him "Something I learned from a crazy Australian chick, mmmm.…now there's a story….must remember to give her a call". Sam shook his head…"Focus, dude". Dean snapped himself out of that memory, picked up his beer, took a long swig and signalled the bartender for another tequila "Well this is the bar Jose worked at so go do your thing Sam…I've just spotted my next 'informant'"and he nodded towards a pretty dark haired waitress leaning against the jukebox, a bored expression on her face. He threw back the tequila the bartender just placed in front of him, grabbed Sam's shot glass and did the same. He picked up his beer and sauntered over to the waitress. Sam turned to the bartender who was looking at him expectantly. Sam sighed and took out his wallet.

They left the bar two hours later, Sam with information on Jose Ferrer and Dean with the waitress' phone number. They'd been directed to a motel at the edge of the town and when Dean had pulled up in the parking lot, he had his choice of spaces. The motel was empty. He told Sam to get the bags while he went and got them a room. He was back shortly waving keys with a grin. Dean opened the door as both the Winchester's tensed, Sam closed his eyes, he didn't open them until he heard Dean's laughter. He slowly opened one eye and then the other…no wonder Dean was laughing, everywhere he looked was cacti…cacti and donkeys. There was a sombrero hung above each double bed, bedspreads had little cacti (wearing hats, mind you) all over them, and the table lamp was a cactus with a donkey sitting next to it. The small table had two chairs with cacti engraved into the backing while cacti salt and pepper shakers stood in the middle of the table. Dean pointed to the walls and Sam laughed out loud. The walls had been papered in alternate cacti/donkey patterns. The donkey's on the wallpaper were sitting down, wearing sombreros, apparently dozing. Sam looked up and yep, the light shade was a sombrero. Dean was laughing so hard he had tears running down his different shaded cheeks "Oh…cliché much?" Sam laughed and pointed at the cacti designed pillow-cases "Does that mean we'll feel like pricks in the morning?" Dean cracked up and threw his bag on the bed and headed to the mini-bar "I need some more tequila…I'm gonna have to be well and truly wasted if I'm gonna get any sleep in here tonight". He opened the fridge grabbed the mini-tequila bottles and sat on the bed. He grinned at Sam "Now let me tell you about me and my tequila slamming Aussie girl…"

Sam went to bed a very scared little boy that night.

Dean woke suddenly when he heard the door to the room slam. He grabbed the gun from underneath his pillow, turned and pointed it into the grinning face of his brother. "Geez, Sammy…" He swung his legs out of bed, stood up slowly and stretched as Sam handed him a coffee. Sam went and sat in front of the laptop, Dean ambled over and stood behind him, looking over Sam's shoulder. Sam wrinkled his nose "Dude, shower's that way…". Dean sniffed at his armpits and pulled a face "Damn heat". Sam smiled "Yeah, it's the heat, Dean…the tequila had _nothing_ to do with it". Dean smacked Sam across the back of the head before heading to the shower.

An hour later, Dean had made a quick check of the car, making sure the sand hadn't hurt his _baby_ any. They were heading out to the desert where the victims had been discovered, Sam filling him in on what he'd found.

When _Magdalena_ had been founded over 100 years ago by settlers, it had been a promising place. There was a plentiful supply of water in the underground artesian springs, there was a strong trade in fabrics and pottery along a slowly developing trade route. As the roads started to develop _Magdalena_ had prospered and more people arrived, the trade began to slowly move towards tequila and tobacco manufacture and, once the initial call of _..there's gold in them there hills…_ was heard, prospectors had turned up. The trade in gold had dried up fairly quickly but after all the digging, fossils had been found and again, _Magadalena_ had grown, slowly eating it's way into the desert landscape.

Sam looked over at Dean "Are you even listening?" Dean grinned "I zoned out after you said fabrics and pottery but zoned back in when I heard tequila. When did the murders start?" Sam looked at his notes "This lot…four months ago. But I found reports of it happening in the late 60's as well. All the deaths then were blamed on coyotes. Seemed to be a lot of reports of sandstorms then too." Dean smirked "Sandstorms, my ass".

Dean made the turn-off to the crime scenes and headed as far into the desert as he dared, he would risk the Impala only _so_ much. Dean was smiling as he got out of the car, which Sam thought was odd as they had to walk at least a mile to the sites and Dean wasn't a big fan of hiking. He opened the door and got out and Dean was looking at him, still smiling "Dude, you got something in your eye…".

Sam reached up and put a finger to the corner of his eye and rubbed...and then yelled "JESUS CHRIST! WHAT IS THAT? ARRRGGGHHHH!!" Dean was too busy laughing his ass off to answer as he walked into the desert, Sam following slowly behind him, eye watering and burning like a sonofabitch. _Oh, it's on alright!..._ he thought.

They'd seen three of the sites before Dean's EMT started going haywire. Sam put his fingers in his ears and started to scream again. Dean laughed at him "Well if it burned your eye, what did you think it was gonna do to your ear, dude?" Sam shook his head trying to make the burning stop "What is it? Arrrggghhh!" Dean grinned at his brother "And divulge my secrets? Sammy…" Sam glared at his brother "You are evil and must be destroyed".

The wind started to pick up as they walked around the site. This was where Jose had been found. There wasn't much around. The body had been found under a Joshua Tree and there were a few errant bushes and the usual collection of cacti and small rock formations scattered about and sand, sand as far as the eye could friggen' well see, which for Sam was probably half as far as Dean.

Sam crouched down and started to dig lightly at the sand where Jose had been found "The bartender said that nothing out of the ordinary happened that night". Dean smirked "Apart from his employee being disembowelled you mean". Sam smiled weakly "Yeah, apart from that. No-one saw anything and he lived just on the outskirts of the town, so he must've walked past God knows how many homes. The police aren't even sure where he was taken". Dean looked over at Sam "And this surprises you….why?". Sam ignored him as his fingers brushed against something sharp, he sucked his breath in and put his fingers quickly in his mouth "GODDAMMIT! AAARRRGGHHH!"

Dean laughed "Fortheloveofgod, Sammy! The stuff BURNS, okay? Keep 'em away from _every_ orifice. Or better yet, why don't you just wash your hands?" Sam gave Dean the finger "Like I said before, you are evil and must be destroyed'. He started to move the sand carefully away, he took his shirt off, put it round his hand as he reached in and pulled the object out. He laid it down and spread out his shirt, the object shinning in the mid-morning sun. Dean walked over and crouched down next to Sam "That looks familiar". The wind started to pick up, small grains of sand peppering their faces, Sam wrapped the object in his shirt and stood as the wind increased it's intensity "Let's get back to the motel." But Dean was already on his way.

They reached the Impala at a run, the sand and wind whipping at them making any exposed skin feel like it was being hit by tiny needles, while the sand at their feet seemed to want to drag them back into the desert. They threw themselves into the car, slammed the doors as the sand lashed at the car. Dean kept muttering under his breath _Not my baby. Not my baby. Not my baby._ He gunned the engine and threw the Impala into reverse. The tyres spun, he eased up a little and they found traction suddenly and the car shot backwards, Dean guiding it expertly back towards the highway. He spun onto the road, threw the car into drive and they tore back to town, the sandstorm suddenly dying out behind them.

Back at the motel, Dean was flicking through their fathers journal while Sam scanned the laptop looking for anything that remotely resembled the amulet. Dean sat up straight in his chair "Here…look…it's the same. Dad's made notes about some kind of entity that uses ….looks like…" he peered closely at the journal.."damn, his handwriting sucks" he handed the journal to Sam who squinted at it "Looks like…is that ..regeneration?" Dean looked at his brother "I don't know about you, but from the pics you got of the victims, none of 'em looked like they were regenerated".

Sam was peering at the journal…"No, I think it's 'life-force regeneration'. So they would only need the essence of the person". Dean grinned "And I'm guessing that's not anywhere near as much fun as it sounds". They looked at the amulet again…from what they could tell, it was made of some kind of bronze, parts of it green with age. It was made up of three circles, each one sitting slightly inside the other one, joined together by small hands, little fists holding the three rings together. The inner circle held an etching of what looked like a wolf holding a the sun in it's jaws. Dean turned to Sam "You know, I don't think it's a wolf…you've heard of Cerberus?" Sam rolled his eyes "Dude, I'm not an idiot". Dean grinned "Really? How's your eye, ear and mouth feeling?" Sam igored him as Dean picked up the amulet…"When you first look at it, you can only see the one head, but look around it, see the faint shadow?" Sam nodded "And the three rings. Could be.." Dean put the amulet back down "So we're dealing with some kind of demon, that likes to ..what? Kill people and fill 'em with sand and has a fondness for three-headed dogs…makes sense". Sam turned his attention back to the laptop while Dean went over to the mini-fridge. Sam smiled "Hasn't been re-stocked yet, dude". Dean turned, came back and sat down, drumming his fingers on the table as he waited for Sam. Sam finally looked up "I just checked back to the last lot of murders and found some more further back, during the 30's. It seems that every time there's a population boom here, the murders start." Dean looked up at the ceiling and saw the sombrero-light shade and glanced quickly away "So he's what? Culling the herd? And if he is, why these victims? I mean, Jose could have been an opportunistic kill, but the first little girl, she was taken specifically" Sam nodded "Yeah, I agree." Dean smiled "Good. You check the families out while I got get us something to eat…I'm starved" Sam waved at Dean distractedly as he left.

Dean headed down the street to the bodega he'd spotted on the way back from the desert, the wind slowly licking at his clothes as the sand swirled around his boots. He had his hands in his pockets and his head was held down out of the wind and sand, his sunglasses providing little protection for his eyes. He went into the store, the wind dying out behind him. As his eyes readjusted to the light, his mouth started to water from the smells inside...a mixture of meats, spices and breads. Dried chille's hung above the counter and there were shelves upon shelves of local delicacies. He went to the counter as a short balding man with an enormous moustache came through a door at the rear of the shop, he could hear a television blaring in the background.

The man looked up at him and stared as Dean tried to hide his embarrassment "Ah, could I get a couple of fajita's, some of that rice dish there aaaaaaand….some of those chocolate things". The man nodded and started to get the order, continually glancing at Dean's face…"You know, they invented sunscreen to stop that happening" Dean smiled "Didn't happen on purpose, dude" The man smiled back "I kind of figured that.". He handed Dean his order and then looked over Dean's shoulder as the wind picked up outside. He quickly took his money and gave him change. Dean was surprised to see a hint of fear in the man's eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked. The shopkeeper shook his head as he came round the counter and started to shuffle Dean out the door, as he whispered a prayer. "Go, go" said the shopkeeper as he pushed Dean out the door. Dean put his foot in the way as the man tried to slam the door shut "What's going on? I thought we were bonding?" . The shopkeeper stared into Dean's eyes "Go. Run. Get back to your car or back to your home. Do it. Do it now!" He gave Dean one final push before slamming the door shut, locking it and pulling down the blind.

Dean stared at the closed door for a bit before the wind and sand forced him to turn and jog back to the motel. The wind increased in intensity and he looked over to his right and saw the sand coming, he took off at a run, the wind pushing at him and seeming to scream in his ears. He turned into the motel parking lot and ran to the room throwing the door open and slamming it shut behind him. Sam looked up from the laptop and stood up quickly "What is it?" Dean looked at Sam "Sand". Sam went to the door and opened it, looking out into a perfectly still, blue sky "There's nothing out there, dude". Dean went to the mini-bar and opened it, took out mini-bottle of tequila "I know what I saw, Sam." He unscrewed the lid and threw the liquid back …and spat…."AAARRRRGGGHH! WHAT THE _HELL _WAS THAT?" He lifted the bottle to his nose and pulled it back quickly…"Vinegar?" Sam laughed "Wait for it…" …Sam edged towards the door as Dean yelled "FUCK ME! IT BURNS!!"

Sam ran from the room, yelling out behind him "Vinegar and chile' water" Dean chased him, tackling him to the ground "You messed with the tequila?" Sam pushed him off and shuffled back in the dirt, laughing as Dean kept spitting and wiping at his tongue. The wind started to pick up again, very quickly and they squinted against it. Dean looked around and saw the sand again, coming very fast "Sammy! Back to the room!" Sam jumped up and the two men ran back to room, slamming the door behind them, hearing the sand hit the other side of the door. They looked out the window and everything was still. Dean looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow "Believe me now?"

They had tried several times to leave the motel room but were driven back by the sand. They had tried to leave separately and while the sand forced Sam back to the room, when Dean tried to leave it was relentless. Dean had just returned from another unsuccessful attempt to make it to the car when Sam found something on the internet. "I think what we're looking at here is something referred to as _Diablo Arenoso_ or _Sand Devils_." Dean walked over and sat down opposite his brother "Never heard of them." Sam shook his head "Me neither. But there's local folklore about the _Diablo Arenoso_ that strikes out at the town when it takes too much from the desert." He looked up at his brother " But that doesn't explain why it's after you." Dean picked at the last of his fajita and reached over and picked up the amulet and turned it over and over in his fingers "Why was this hidden under the body and why didn't the cops find it?" Sam shrugged his shoulders and went to look at the names and occupations of the victims and their families again. Dean picked up his father's journal and went and sat on the bed, leaning back against the headrest, he opened it and began to read.

Sam shook him awake an hour later. He sat down on the bed next to Dean "There is a link." Dean sat up and rubbed his hand down his face "Who the what now?" Sam punched him on the shoulder "Maria Vazquez, the first victim. Her father runs a company that bought rights to bore into the underground artesian springs. The bartender, Jose Ferrer had applied for a licence to start running fossil digs in the hills at the south of the town. And Benny Suarez, the last victim…he's a property developer and guess where his next project was going to be?" Dean yawned "So, we've got an environmentally aware demon. As p.c. as that is, did you find out anything that could actually help us?" Sam shook his head "Go back to sleep, Dean." Dean didn't need to be told twice. He rolled over and was asleep again in minutes. Sam grabbed their father's journal and sat down on his bed. He had flicked through a few dozen pages when he found something that looked similar to the amulet. It wasn't an exact match but there were enough similarities between the two to peak his interest. He started to read his fathers writing but after reading the same sentence three or four times and realising he was too tired to let it sink in, he placed the book on the bedside table, next to the scary lamp, turned off the light and lay on his back, hands behind his head, ankles crossed staring at the ceiling. He fell asleep quickly and so didn't hear the wind whispering in his own voice _You are evil and must be destroyed. You are evil and must be destroyed…_

Sam woke slowly as the sun streamed through the motel window. He stretched and looked over at the other bed, it was empty. He raised himself off the pillow and rubbed at the back of his neck, he looked up as Dean walked through the door, coffees in hand and a cheeky grin on his face "Sleeping Beauty awakes." Sam looked at him quizzically as Dean handed him a cup "Don't know either, dude. Tried to go out to the car this morning, fully expecting a sand bath and …nothing. Not even a small breeze." Sam took a sip of the coffee and winced "It's cold." Dean grinned "Yeah, sorry about that. Ran into that waitress from the bar" Sam got up and shook his head "Did you even bother to try and figure out how to kill these sand devils or has your downstairs brain completely overtaken your upstairs one?" Dean gave Sam the finger "As a matter of fact I did find something….and close your mouth, Sam" He went over to the laptop and spun it around. Sam got up and went and sat down in front of the computer and began to read. He looked up at Dean and laughed "Well that seems easy enough" Dean leaned against the wall "Well there's only cemetery here, so it shouldn't be too difficult. We should have enough from each gravesite way before nightfall" Sam looked at him incredulously "You want to collect dirt from each of the victims graves during the day?" Dean put his coffee down on the table "We can't do this at night Sam, it's too damn dark out in the middle of the desert, we'd never see them coming. We have no choice." Sam knew Dean was right but going and raiding victims graves for a handfuls of dirt was going to be pretty hard to explain away if they were caught. Sam sighed, nodded his head and went to shower before heading out.

They pulled up front of the small cemetery. There was a tiny sandstone church attached to it, a bell hanging precariously from the tower. There didn't seem to be anyone about so they made their way quickly to the cemetery. They headed to the gravesites that held the freshest flowers. They'd collected dirt from all but one of the gravesites when Sam spotted a priest heading in their direction "Heads up, dude." They stood in front of Maria Vazquez grave and watched the priest approach them. He was young, maybe 30, straight dark hair and brown eyes, but they weren't the friendly eyes of your local parish priest "What are you doing here?" Dean started to say something when Sam cut him off "We're reporters with the Lakeside Tribune and we're doing a story on the recent murders. We just wanted to come and pay our respects to the victims" The priest stared at them "And you do that by taking dirt from their resting places?" Sam stuttered "We…it's for….it's not what you…" Dean interrupted his brother "Tell us about the _Diablo Arenoso_" The priest looked startled and paused before answering "Fairy tales". Dean smirked at him "Is that what you told their families?" The priest bristled at the man in front of him "Get out. Get off this land." Dean shook his head "Can't actually do that. You see..."

"I _see _nothing! You desecrate the graves of the departed? Leave before I call the police!"

Sam looked at the priest "We need your help" The priest looked at him "Please..." The priest sighed "There is no help to be had here. You should leave while you can" Dean laughed "We tried that yesterday but your little sand devils wouldn't let that happen" The priest looked up at them quickly "You saw the sand move?" They nodded and Sam reached into his pocket and took out the amulet and held it out to the priest who looked at it and performed the sign of the cross "You must take that back, put it back where you found it." He looked at Dean "You said you couldn't leave yesterday" Dean nodded. The priest sighed again "Come with me" and he turned and headed back towards the church.

They were seated in a pew at the front of the small church. The priest sitting in front of them. He explained that the _Diablo Arenoso_ had been around for centuries acting as a protector to the land and all it held. There had never been any trouble until the gold prospectors had come in the 1930's and that's when they turned deadly. Stories passed down for generations had told of how the sacred site of the sand devils had been disturbed by the prospectors and that from that time on, they had been exacting revenge on anyone that took from the land without making an offering to them. If an offering wasn't made then the sand devils would come and take what they believed was fair trade. Only now it seemed as though they had developed a taste for blood and would not stop until every last one of the townsfolk were dead. He looked at Dean "Where did you find the amulet?" Dean pointed to Sam "He dug it out of the ground. It was under where Jose was found" The priest looked at Sam "Did you notice anything unusual when you found it?" Sam shook his head "Apart from cutting my finger on it, no" . The priest looked at him "You drew blood on it?" Sam nodded "Aaand I'm guessing from the look on your face, that's not a good thing". The priest looked hard at Sam "What did you say? When you found it?" Sam looked confused "I don't remember…we'd been looking around the area, Dean was being an ass…I mean he was being annoying and I made a comment about him being evil …" The priest looked up at him "What were you're exact words?" Sam thought on it "I think I said 'You are evil and must be destroyed'…" The priest looked at Dean "It's coming for you" Dean looked at the priest and then turned to Sam and smacked him across the back of the head "Dude, you cursed me"

The priest let them get the last handful of dirt they needed and blessed each jar of dirt (ha!) but had refused to go out with them to the desert. They had thanked him, left the church and returned to the motel room. Dean cleared the table and started to make the mixture for the shotguns. Sam sat opposite him "Well how was I supposed to know that those seven words would mean you'd have a sand devil on your ass?" Dean kept making the mixture "I always said you talked too damn much" Sam stood up "You almost finished?" Dean nodded, stood and handed the newly mixed ammo to Sam "According to the priest there should only be three of them. If we head back to the sites, they'll come for me" he looked at his brother "thanks again for that." He grabbed his shotgun and loaded it before heading out to the car., Sam following slowly behind him. The wind picked up as they headed out to the desert again.

As they wound their way up the turn off to the desert Dean turned to Sam "They'll be quick Sam, make sure each shot counts. If we run out of ammo, I'm screwed." Sam nodded. He wondered how far in they'd get before the sand devils came for them. He reached down and felt for the amulet that was in his pocket. They would head to Jose's body dump site and put the amulet back. The priest had given him the words he needed to use to set the amulet back into the sand. The priest believed that's when the devils would come for Dean. Dean eased the car to a stop as the wind whipped around the car. He looked at Sam "We're gonna have to run to the site. If this wind keeps up we'll never find it." Sam nodded and they threw the doors open simultaneously and slammed them shut, hitting the ground running. Dean could hear Sam close on his heels and quickened his pace. Sam stayed right on him. The only resistance they had at the moment came from the wind that buffeted them and the sand that lashed at their skin.

They were about 40 feet from the Joshua Tree where Jose was found when Dean thought he saw something dash out in front of him, he raised his shotgun but it was gone. He kept running and thought he saw another figure off to his left and turned quickly…only managing to glimpse a pair of powerful arms and bright yellow eyes. He turned when he heard Sam yell and saw a sand devil launch itself at his brother. He fired off a shot hitting it in the back…it screamed an ear-piercing scream before disintegrating. Sam ran after Dean and dropped to his knees under the Joshua Tree. He looked up when he heard a guttural growl from in front of him. He stopped digging and stared at the sand devil, wondering why Dean hadn't shot it. He chanced a glance at his brother and saw the other sand devil with it's hand around Dean's throat. He daren't move.

They demons were only short, maybe 5ft tall but they were powerfully built. The arm that encircled Dean's throat was twice the size of the average man. It ended in four sharp talons. Sam looked at the sand devil in front of him, it's skin, if you could call it that seemed to fade in an out. One moment you were sure you were looking at pale orange/yellow scales the next minute you were looking at sand granules swirling in small circles and then back to the orange/yellow scales. The demon in front of him grinned showing a teeth that looked like they belonged in a great white shark, it's piercing yellow eyes never left Sam's. Sam reached slowly into his pocket and grabbed the amulet. He removed it just as slowly and tossed it into the small hole he'd dug. The demons eyes dropped to the amulet and it screamed. Sam dropped to the left, grabbed his shotgun and fired it from the ground, taking the sand devil in the chest. It disintegrated like the other one. He rolled and turned towards Dean just in time to see Dean place the shotgun under the demons chin and pull the trigger. The piercing scream of the sand devil was cut short ... the wind dying just as suddenly. Sam turned back to the amulet and covered it up whispering the words the priest had given him.

It was Sam's turn to sleep. Dean looked over at his brother as he drove towards their next job, he was slumped in the passenger seat, head lolling against the closed window, sunglasses slightly askew, mouth open and arms crossed over his chest. Dean shook his head…at least he was sleeping And judging by the frown on Sam's face, he was having another one of his 'Sarah' dreams. _'Poor bastard'_ he thought, and turned his attention back to the road.


End file.
